Banana Republic Newsflash

[Sigma_Orionis]

Well.... at least now y'all have something to point and laugh at....

I think you meant point and cry

[Sigma_Orionis]

Oh my, I'm not going to be able to "scrape by"

Predictably:

The government says there is an orchestrated attempt, led by the opposition, to sabotage the economy.

Sure, there is an orchestrated attempt to sabotage the economy. IT'S DONE BY YOU FRIGGIN IDIOTS IN THE GOVERNMENT

Keep voting for Nicky Ripe bitches.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Ahhh. The joys of incompetence....

Venezuela fledgling currency system spawns $859 million mystery

and as usual:

Meanwhile, Maduro is stepping up inspections of companies deemed to be hoarding goods or intentionally slowing production in what he calls part of a Washington-backed "economic war."

"Some of the bourgeoisie are forming shell companies to make fictitious import requests ... and then using the dollars for speculative purposes," said Vice President Jorge Arreaza during a televised speech last week.

The only "Economic War" going on is the one waged by the damn currency policies you have Nicky, STFU.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Well. Homeland discovered Venezuela....

“Torre de David” goes Hollywood

How San Bernardino (the actual location of "La Torre de David") looks like Puerto Rico's Old San Juan, is beyond me though. OTOH, you damned gringos had the gall of showing downtown Bogotá like a slum in "Clear and Present Danger" so I can't say I'm all that surprised.....

[SciFiFisher]

Well. Homeland discovered Venezuela....

“Torre de David” goes Hollywood

How San Bernardino (the actual location of "La Torre de David") looks like Puerto Rico's Old San Juan, is beyond me though. OTOH, you damned gringos had the gall of showing downtown Bogotá like a slum in "Clear and Present Danger" so I can't say I'm all that surprised.....

Hollywood would never let reality get in the way of hyperbole and story telling.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Someone please shoot me now, put me out of my misery.....

Venezuela Unveils Orwellian Ministry of Supreme Social Happiness

[geonuc]

We must elevate the missions to heaven, in gratitude to Chávez

Sounds awesome! Don't know what your problem is. Here, have some Koolaid.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Yer Despicable, you damned nuclear pinko commie liberal

[Sigma_Orionis]

And it just keeps getting better and better....

Arreaza in Outright Self-Parody Mode

Arreaza is the Vice-President.

The quotes in Spanish:

Este jueves el Vicepresidente Ejecutivo, Jorge Arreaza, señaló que factores económicos han inyectado liquidez deliberadamente a la economía, a fin de generar presiones que sirvan como arma de la supuesta guerra económica que adelantan los empresarios contra el país.

Translation:
This Thursday, Executive Vice-President, Jorge Arreaza, said that "economic players" have deliberately injected liquid assets into the economy, as to generate pressure that will be used as a weapon for the alleged "economic war" that the private sector wages against the country.

And

Dijo que ya están identificados y que próximamente el Presidente Nicolás Maduro dará a conocer sus nombres.

Translation:
He said that they have been identified and that President Nicolás Maduro will make their names known soon.

[Cyborg Girl]

Okay, this is starting to get scary. Scapegoats anyone?

[Sigma_Orionis]

Yer late to the party, the scapegoats is you damned gringos.

[Cyborg Girl]

I just hope he doesn't start pointing fingers at "traitors in our midst."

[Sigma_Orionis]

This opposition newspaper keeps track of how many times both Chavez and Nicky Ripe have blamed something on Sabotage.

And here are some numbers for you to crunch on.

From the year 2000 till October 2013, our patriotic idiots have mentioned the word "Sabotage" 132 times. Only 17 had specifics and in only 5 there was an announcement of detentions.

Chavez himself played that game 19 times in the last 13 years, Current idiot has done it 18 times in the last 8 months.

So, the odds of a "Soviet Style" purge are pretty low. Now let's assume he actually tries to do something like that.

Do you know what caused the Military to oust Chavez in 2002? when several people were killed and wounded during a demonstration AGAINST the Government
IF Maduro (who has infinitely less support from both the population and the military) actually tries a stunt like that. I don't think he'd last more than a week.

I am much more concerned that things go out of hand between Chavista and Opposition activists, which could end up in a Civil War.

[Morrolan]

hasn't been a civil war in your neck of the woods for a while, amigo. if Brazil keeps it together, it might well be Venezuela (or Suriname, but who cares?).

stay safe.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Well, Brazil better keep it together, they're like "too big to fail".

Right now, I'd say there's a 50-50 chance here.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Since the Chavistas are so in love with Cuba, Fidel Castro & Co (the bearded Demi-Gods that came down from the Sierra Maestra to topple the US Backed Dictator and made the revolution possible, blah, blah,blah) I found this grimly amusing:

Hijacker to return to the United States

Potts said he yearns to see family, including two daughters born in Cuba who now live in the United States. And he said he no longer feels the same zeal he once did for Cuba's political system.

"Two generations were forced to sacrifice everything and we can't give our children a decent lunch, we can't give our old people a decent meal," he said. "That's after 50 years of revolution."

[SciFiFisher]

Since the Chavistas are so in love with Cuba, Fidel Castro & Co (the bearded Demi-Gods that came down from the Sierra Maestra to topple the US Backed Dictator and made the revolution possible, blah, blah,blah) I found this grimly amusing:

Hijacker to return to the United States

Potts said he yearns to see family, including two daughters born in Cuba who now live in the United States. And he said he no longer feels the same zeal he once did for Cuba's political system.

"Two generations were forced to sacrifice everything and we can't give our children a decent lunch, we can't give our old people a decent meal," he said. "That's after 50 years of revolution."

Ah yes, the dream. On paper Communism is such a great idea.

[Morrolan]

Since the Chavistas are so in love with Cuba, Fidel Castro & Co (the bearded Demi-Gods that came down from the Sierra Maestra to topple the US Backed Dictator and made the revolution possible, blah, blah,blah) I found this grimly amusing:

Hijacker to return to the United States

Potts said he yearns to see family, including two daughters born in Cuba who now live in the United States. And he said he no longer feels the same zeal he once did for Cuba's political system.

"Two generations were forced to sacrifice everything and we can't give our children a decent lunch, we can't give our old people a decent meal," he said. "That's after 50 years of revolution."

Ah yes, the dream. On paper Communism is such a great idea.

the same could be said for Capitalism...

[Cyborg Girl]

Any "one size fits all" solution looks great on paper.

[FZR1KG]

ideology: Works only in an ideal world.
Thus all will work in theory because everyone will do the right thing by that ideology.

In the real world however, implementing any single ideology is shit in the long run.
Sometimes that run isn't even that long.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Man this is good (in a bad way of course):

Eschernomics

The comments section is priceless.

[Sigma_Orionis]

And since you evil capitalist gringos just HAD to bring up Ideology, I now give you an Ideologist.

All bow to: Heinz Dieterich A German sociologist that came up with the Socialism in the 21s Century baloney.

Apparently he is not too pleased with how Chavez did it here, and according to Dieterich himself, him and Chavez have not been on speaking terms since 2007.

I have been reading some of his nonsense (yep, I think he is full of shit) and IMHO this guy is pathetic, for example (from his Wikipedia Entry):

He is considered one of the most important figures in the "New School of Bremen" in sociology, constituted by Arno Peters, Carsten Stahmer, and the Cuban physicist Raimundo Franco. This school implements principles of cybernetics, quantum mechanics and the "principle of equivalence" to sociology. In 1996, Steffan contributed to the creation of the alternative information website Rebelion.org, where he contributes regularly.

Principles of Quantum Mechanics and the Equivalence Principle in Sociology, Yeah, Right

I've read what he writes about in sites like this (Sorry gringos, all in spanish ) and found this pearl (the title of the article in question translates to "Obama: Triple Strategy to Destroy China")

Comparando la profundidad de las dos culturas, una con 5000 años de evolución, y otra con 236 años, su potencial en la lucha de ideas es abismal. Es difícil pensar que una nación, cuyas contribuciones básicas a la cultura de la humanidad se limitan al Burger Boy, la bomba nuclear y Madonna, podrá derrotar a la nación que inventó la pólvora, la brújula, el papel y la imprenta, y que construyó la Gran Muralla. Sólo la ceguera imperialista de Obama, tan cerca a la de Hitler, puede hacerle creer en tal posibilidad.

Translation:

Comparing the depth of both cultures, one with 5000 years of evolution and the other one with 236 years, their potential in the struggle for ideas is abysmal. It's hard to believe that a nation whose basic contributions to the culture of Humanity are limited to Burger Boy, the Atomic Bomb and Madonna, could defeat a nation that invented gun powder, the magnetic compass, writing paper and the printing press, and that built the Great Wall. Only Obama's imperialist blindness, so close to Hitler's could make him believe such a possibility.

Why do mention this? Because apparently Mr. Dieterich thinks that Nicky ripe won't make it past March/April 2014. Even better: he outlines a "plan" to save the "Bolivarian Revolution" that in essence sounds like LIBERALIZING THE ECONOMY.

So, this "21st century Socialist", in addition to accepting a Multi Party Democracy, accepts a Market based economy? I guess that all they have left is to bitch about the empire.

[geonuc]

Burger Boy, a-bombs and Madonna is it? Damn, I was sure we invented a couple of other things.

[Sigma_Orionis]

You mean useless, unimportant things like the lightning rod? Vulcanized Rubber? the Airplane? Television?, the Transistor?

I tell you, living in this country makes it very hard not to listen to your nutjobs demanding to reduce the government to the point it can be "drowned in a bathtub" and nod. Because the idiots WE have in power seem to be doing everything they can to be used as poster boys for "liberalism" as your Libertarian/Tea Party nutjobs see it. And on top of that we have to listen to bullshit of the kind produced by Heinz Dieterich whom I still have not decided if he is a useful idiot or a low-life scum that would justify the Khmer Rouge just to appear he was right.

Here's a blog post by the very right leaning Cato Institute about our current disaster: Venezuela’s House of Cards. Those boys at CATO might be Libertarian Nutjobs, but I can't disagree with what they write on this article.

Remember when I bitched about our (Official!) Inflation at 30%? in the last few months it has reached levels pretty close to Hyperinflation, and no signs that it's going to stop.

However, be that as it may, I still find it absolutely ridiculous when those very same idiots scream at the top of their lungs because a left leaning economist like Paul Krugman suggests that a target inflation of 4% could be actually beneficial to the US economy. 4% annual inflation? WHO do we have to kill to get that?

[SciFiFisher]

However, be that as it may, I still find it absolutely ridiculous when those very same idiots scream at the top of their lungs because a left leaning economist like Paul Krugman suggests that a target inflation of 4% could be actually beneficial to the US economy. 4% annual inflation? WHO do we have to kill to get that?

From what I can tell about half of your ruling party. I recommend you start at the top.